1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally in the field of penile erection devices and more specifically represents an improved means and method for extending the length of a stiffener cylinder which is implanted in the corpus cavernosum of the penis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For several decades, devices have been invented and implanted in order to provide a penile erection means for men who suffer the affliction of erectile impotence. The earliest of these devices were merely stiff rods (e.g., Barrington, U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,840) which retained their hardness and size at all times. The most successful of these devices, as described by Buuck in U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,102, operate by implanting within the corpus cavernosum of the penis one or more (typically two) stiffener cylinders whose rigidity, when inflated with fluid, provides the desired hardness, stiffness, and increased size for the penis that is necessary for sexual intercourse.
The rigid and semi-rigid (i.e., that can be bent) rods that have been used are typically adjusted in length at the time of surgery to fit exactly within the corpus cavernosum of the penis. In the case of the inflatable stiffener cylinders that are implanted in the corpus cavernosum, it is a common practice for the urological surgeon to place fixed length, root extenders onto the root end of such inflatable cylinders. This is done in order to obtain a total length of the cylinder implant that exactly fills out the corpus cavernosum.
As far as obtaining the exact length required, there are two disadvantages when using the length adjustment methods described above for the rigid and semi-rigid rods and the stiffener cylinder, namely:
1. The root extenders come in finite lengths and therefore do not allow continuous length adjustment, and,
2. No present technique allows for adjusting the implant length after surgical implantation.